Well if the D7200 ....if that's the only one...it better be one up on the existing units...who wants to move from a D400 down to a jazzed up 72 with the same AF that the 400 has...but just more res, and very little change in IQ at hi iso ? ...sad.

Likely similiar at Canon...but at least they have cross sensors at each side...unlike any Niks. sigh.

Cross sensors at the sides don't work very well - that's the optics of the situation. That's why Nikon's designers decided that a a beefy effective line sensor in that position is better than a less effective cross sensor. Real life AF performance rarely gets systematically evaluated, so people end up making decisions on marketing info, which can be more than a little misleading.

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Bob

Well, we can agree to disagree. The 7D af is working very well, as it should. Both it and the newer FF Canons have cross sensors at the sides, and ...guess what ? They have been selling a whole lot of them.

I didn't say that the AF in the Canon cameras doesn't work, it is obviously excellent. Just that cross sensors at the edge are less effective and don't in fact work very well. It's telling that Canon never

makes all the edge sensors cross type. They always mix them up. Look at the 1D X above and notice that there is no reason they couldn't have made them all cross point - but if they did those edges would work so well.

The edge cross is more of a marketing thing, it's the linear ones doing the work at the edges, why Nikon doesn't bother, but they lose out in the marketing.

Nikon has good stuff (I own one), but think about it...if they Now added cross sensors at the sides, it would be like admitting that their previous renditions were not quite as good as Canon's designs, and companies are loath to do that. Protecting their turf.

Nothing wrong with wanting the best possible AF in a cam. (brands ? I own 3 brands...names mean little).

There are, as I said, very sound technical reasons for not putting cross sensors at the edges.